Safety-guard for railway-cars



(No Model.) 2 sheets-sneet 1. W. J. POSTER.

SAFETY GUARD FOR RAILWAY CARS.

No. 512,181. Patented Jan. Y2, 1894..

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Tnrns VILLIAM J. FOSTER, OF HOBOKEN, NEV JERSEY.

SAFETY-G UARD FOR RAI LWAY-CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 512,181, dated January 2, 1894.

Application iled October 20, 1893. Serial No. 488,669. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM J. FOSTER, of Hoboken, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Safety-Guards for Railway-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvementin safety guards for railway cars in which a cradle mounted beneath the platform of the car is arranged to be thrust forward, low down to the ground, under the impulse received by a fender located across the front of a car.

In providing for the safety of individuals and animals crossing the track in front of a cable, trolley or horse car, it is desirable that the safety guard should not extend to any considerable degree in front of the front end of Ithe car'where it would be liable to become injured by the wheels of trucks or other vehicles crossing the track in proximity to the car and at the same time it is desirable that there should be some means for catching the body of the person or animal struck by the car, in such a manner as to carry the body along without serious injury until the car can be brought to a full stop.

It is to the accomplishment of the above desired ends that my present invention is directed and it consists, briefly speaking, of a spring actuated, low down cradle, held normally in a housed position beneath the platform of the car and provided with suitable antifriction rollers at. its forward end so that it may ride along, when in action, close down to the surface of the track and a yielding fender arranged in an upright position in front of the end of the car and extending down to a point within a few inches of thenormal position. Fig. 2 is aview of the same in side elevation, showing the parts thrust forward into the position which they assume immediately after the object has been struck by the fender. Fig. 3 is a top plan View of the car, the platform of the car being removed t0 show the position of the working parts, and Fig. 4E isa transverse section through the platform of the car on a plane in front of the cradle-supporting hangers.

The spring actuated cradle is denoted by A. It is advantageously formed of curved side rails a and one or more intermediate rails of the same shape over which, between the side rails, is stretched a body or door of woven wire B. Its front edge is provided with a cushion d of rubber or other suitable yielding material and in close proximity to its front edge it is provided with rollersb adapted to rest on the surface of the track when the cradle is thrust forward into operative position and I also ind it desirable to provide the cradle with supporting rollers b upon which the cradle may rest whenever the weight carried by it in its forward position is sufficient to spring the said rollers b down into contact with the surface of the track.

The rearend of thecradle is pivotallysecured to the free ends of arms C, extending laterally from a rock shaft D mounted in suitable bearings underncath the car. The arms O may be conveniently formed by developing the shaft D into cranks at the proper intervals, or the shaft may be made straight and the arms xed thereto. The shaft D is held under tension tending to rock it to throw the cradle forward, by a spring, in the present instance a stiif band spring E, secured at one end to the under side of the car and extending thence over and around a disk bearing cl on the shaft, its opposite end being secured to the periphery of the disk bearing. At its outer ends the rock shaft D is provided with a pair of disks d provided on their peripheries each with an abutment d2, which may be a tooth, for the purpose of locking the cradle in its position beneath the platform. The front portion of the cradle is held normally above the surface of the ground by means of a pair of hangers F depending from the platform of the car and provided at their lower ends with lips f adapted to take under wings a2 on the side rails of the cradle, when the cradle is in its normal position, said wings on the rails being adapted to slide off from the lips on the hangers and permit the forward end of the cradle to drop onto the surface of the track whenever the shaft D is released to thrust the cradle forward.

In front of the end of the car a fender G, which may be advantageously made of woven Wire supported by a suitable frame work, is suspended; the said fender being hinged to slides g, mounted on vertical guide rods H, secured to the end of the car. The connection is such that the fender G is permitted to swing rearwardly on its hinges a predetermined distance and, at the same time, move vertically on the rods H, while stops g projecting from the top of the fender above its hinged connection are in position to engage the front of the car and prevent the fender from swinging forwardly beyond a certain position. The ends of the fender are connected by trip rods h with the cradle actuating shaft as followsz-The trip rods h extend rearwardly through suitable guide hangers I and at or near their rear ends they are provided With abutments h', which may be teeth formed thereon, adapted to engage the abutments on the disks on the rock shaft and prevent the latter from rotating so long as the fender is in its advanced or normal position. The trip rods h are further provided with recesses h2 which, when the trip rods are forced rearwardly by the slight rearwardlyswinging movement of the fender under the impulse of an object struck, will permit the trip rods to drop out of engagement with the abutments on the rock shaft, and the latter will thereby be free to rotate under the tension of its actuating spring.

On the sides of the cradle there are formed abutments a3 against which the lower edge of the fender G will press to lock the cradle in its advanced position.

The practical operation of the device is as followsz-The fender G, hanging normally with its lower edge four inches or lessabove the surface of the track and the cradle to the rear of the fender in suspended adjustment, whenever the fender strikes an object on the track, the impulse will swing it rearwardly suicient to trip the rock shaft D and the cradle will be, by the rotation of such shaft, promptly pressed forward underneath the fender and with its front edge riding along the surface of the track so as to catch the object struck by the fender. The fender will lift on its guide rods as the cradle is thrust forward and as soon as the latter reaches the limit of its forward movement, the fender will fall into position behind the abutments on the sides of the cradle and will thereby lock it securely in its advanced position, forming in effect a chair for the occupancy of the object struck and effectually preventing the object from becoming entangled in the guard operating mechanism or otherwise injured until the car shall have been brought to a stop.

A lever, at all times under the control of the gripman,-motorman or driver, and denoted in the present instance by K, may be rocked to swing the fender and release the cradle if its intentional operation on his part shall at any time be found desirable.

It is obvious that slight changes might be resorted to in the form and arrangement of the several parts herein described without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention. Hence I do not wish to limit myself strictly to the construction and arrangementherein set forth, but

1. The combination with a fender mounted at the end of a car to move up and down in right lines, of a cradle arranged to move forward along the track in a path extending above the plane normally occupied by the movable fender and means for actuating the cradle, substantially as set forth.

2. A safety guard, comprising a movable fen der, a cradle having a traveling movement from a point to the rear of the fender to a position in front of the fender, a spring actuated rcck shaft connected with the cradle to advance it and a trip rod connected with the swinging fender and having an engagement with the rock shaft to lock and release it, substan tially as set forth.

3. A safety guard, comprising a movable fender, a cradle free to move from a position to the rear of the fender to a position in front of the fender, supports for holding thecradle suspended at its front edge when in normal position, a spring actuated rock shaft engaged with the cradle at its rear edge to advance it, and a trip mechanism under the control of the movable fender to release the rock shaft, substantially as set forth.

4E. A safety guard, comprising a vertically movable fender, a cradle free to move beneath the fender and means for actuating the cradle, the vertically movable fender having an interlocking engagement with the cradle to hold it in its advanced position, substantially as set forth.

WILLIAM J. FOSTER.'Y

Witnesses:

FREDK. HAYNES, IRENE B. DECKER.

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